Boys Basketball: Notre Dame falls to Benet in 2 OTs
BY Jason Ivanitz Contributor January 28, 2012 12:48AM
Joe Schuessler (4) of Benet Academy looks for an open teammate while tightly guarded by Greg Leifel (3) of Notre Dame. | Jon Cunningham~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:06AM
It was one of those games where you wished that no one had to take a loss.
Notre Dame pushed the two-time defending Eastern Suburban Catholic champions, Benet Academy, to the limit on Friday but couldn’t pull out a victory falling 60-59 in double-overtime on the Redwings’ Alumni Night.
“We have played down quite a bit this season and normally we were able to pull it (the game) out. Tonight we just couldn’t do it,” Dons coach Tom Les said. “We can’t use that we are young as an excuse anymore. We have played 21 games now and I consider all of our players seniors.”
It appeared that the Redwings (15-3, 3-1 ESCC) were going to cruise to victory easily in the second overtime as they held a 60-54 advantage with 1:31 remaining in the period. Notre Dame (15-6, 2-2 ESCC) didn’t go down without a fight. Joe Ferrici converted a three-point play and on the ensuing in-bound pass, Ferrici ripped the ball away from the Benet guard and made a highly contested lay-up to make it 60-59.
Benet’s poor free-throw shooting gave the Dons life as the Redwings’ Pat McInerney missed them both and the Dons got one last chance for the win with 12.1 seconds remaining. After a Notre Dame timeout, the Dons tried to get the ball down low. However McInerney anticipated a pass into the corner and stole the ball from the Dons’ guard. The time expired before the Dons could foul, securing the Benet victory.
McInereny scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the game for the Redwings.
“This was a game that we would have lost two weeks ago. We just beat a good young team and it is always big when you get a conference win,” Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp said. “It was a little frustrating that we didn’t hit some of our free throws late but we hung in there.”
The game almost didn’t make it to a second overtime.
Benet held a 50-48 advantage with 33 seconds left in regulation after Bobby Wehrli split his free throws. On the ensuing possession Notre Dame’s Duante Stephens slashed through the lane and came in strong with a left-handed lay-up to tie the game up.
“We overall played a good game but we had some lapses and that hurt us tonight,” Les said. “Our trap worked at times during the end of the game but we gave up too many looks down low.”
Nine different Dons scored in the game led by Matt Mooney who contributed 20 points, two coming in overtime. Ferrici scored five of the Dons’ seven points in the second overtime.
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